Ch.33 – Fear of Centipedes

After virtual reality became life itself, my leisure options became incredibly narrow.

Gaming was out since I’d done it to death, paid video entertainment was a pass, and all that remained were VTubers and internet communities – neither of which matched my taste.

First, I couldn’t easily relate to their culture, and second, occasionally seeing negative comments about myself would ruin my entire day.

But today, I’ve never felt less like working.

Is this the power of money?

The free time that capital provides has made my body – no, my mind – lazy, and I buried myself in bed, surfing the sea of information for something entertaining.

I don’t usually watch gaming categories on VTube, but the third episode of Docu 4 Days that aired yesterday appeared in my recommended algorithm.

The view count is on pace to surpass 4 million in less than 12 hours.

I already watched most of it yesterday, and going in would just expose me to a bunch of hate comments about myself…

Instead, I selected Brahms’ Ballades for Piano that I’d previously saved. I liked how similar it was to music my former teacher enjoyed.

I closed my eyes with the music playing, but sleep wouldn’t come.

Was it fear that I might die in my sleep tomorrow?

Or perhaps it was the habit solidified over six years? Napping is difficult.

I tried to forget yesterday’s unpleasant memories with beautiful melodies, but that damn Docu 4 Days kept coming to mind. I wasn’t worried about getting banned.

Since I was using it illegally without identity registration anyway, if I got banned I could just bypass it and come back. I just tried to avoid it because the process was quite annoying…

4 million…

That’s more than the population of most cities.

Among all those people, isn’t there a prince who could rescue me from this insufferable prison?

Just as it’s human nature to search for a sliver of hope in despair, despite experiencing disappointment countless times, I foolishly sent out another SOS request.

I was only reminded once again that humans are more indifferent to others than we think.

What a tragic fate.

I’ve never escaped the position of a caged bird.

In my previous life, I was bound by the massive chains of the imperial family and couldn’t withstand the power struggles among the nobles.

Was it such a terrible mistake to wish that if I were given another life, I’d want to live freely somewhere no one knew me?

Since I didn’t want human touch, they’ve now physically confined me somewhere.

How can I not resent the gods?

Yet I lack the courage to commit suicide.

You might question how I can say I’ve died twice already, but I have a strong intuition that this life is truly my last.

There’s evidence too. When I was first born, I had a Mongolian spot on each hand, but in my previous life one disappeared, and in this life they’re completely gone.

If those spots represented my lifespan, this must be my final chance.

My body is starting to signal that it’s reaching its limit.

Waking from the capsule consumes too much energy, so I haven’t examined my body for nearly a year. The physical reactions from outside were transmitted inside unfiltered, which was enough.

A few weeks ago, my hands and feet began to tingle, and sometimes I’d get chills or cold sweats.

When falling asleep after a tight schedule, I’d feel the creepy sensation of something like a centipede crawling all over my body.

Especially when that centipede bit me, I was so startled I screamed out loud.

Of course, there was no centipede under the blanket.

Without consuming nutrients normally, my body couldn’t possibly be healthy. It’s a miracle I’m still alive.

The music is ending soon.

The rest was sweet, but I can’t bear the silence and emptiness that follows.

Above all, there are too many centipedes in my room.

In the end, I had no choice but to depart for the battlefield where there are no centipedes.

But today seems to be an unlucky day indeed.

[Normal – Collect 10 Mysterious Murals (0/10)]

[Legendary – Achieve 15 kills within 30 minutes (0/15)]

[Mythic – Achieve Double Ace twice (0/2)]

“This is too demanding…”

Seeing these unfair missions occasionally makes me want to abandon the game.

But based on six years of experience, it’s more efficient to do my best to clear each match rather than giving up and choosing only manageable missions in the next game.

Besides, there’s no guarantee the next game won’t have similarly unfair situations.

I need to collect murals but there’s also a kill mission. And the extremely difficult Double Ace achievement requires everyone on both teams to die in a single teamfight – twice.

The most orthodox method is to hoard resources for yourself, ensuring your teammates can’t get strong while preventing any single enemy from becoming exceptionally powerful. Of course, deliberately setting up such a situation is absurd.

I carefully considered my randomly assigned position.

Playing as a mid laner would give me influence but make the mural mission relatively difficult. Other lanes were out of the question, so changing my spell without hesitation seemed the wisest choice.

* * *

“Smite and Ghost?”

Surely not…?

Semin immediately became alert when the allied mid laner switched to Smite.

He had planned to play his usual jungle Rammus today, but this would mean two junglers on one team.

‘They must want to jungle.’

Since they remained silent even after Semin switched his spell to Ignite, it seemed they wanted the jungle role.

Looking at the teammate’s Soul Hunter Vargo pick, the spell choice wasn’t reassuring, but they didn’t seem like a troll. With such an old game, it’s inevitable to encounter people with no manners. As a gentleman, I should yield.

In the end, Semin, who valued each match, changed his character.

[Welcome to the Battlefield.]

Weather: partly cloudy, wind from northwest, morning sunlight streaming down.

The blind-processed ally and enemy nicknames are engraved on the monument of honor, signaling the start of the game.

[Dont cry mumu]

[PatientlyPersistant]

[NoName]

[HitmeonceIllhityoutwice]

[Thecheetahiscrying]

And Semin just wanted to cry.

[PatientlyPersistant: Not this troll again]

[PatientlyPersistant: I lost my promotion series yesterday because of them, and now we’re matched again in this tier?]

[Thecheetahiscrying: The king of banned boots has arrived!]

[Dont cry mumu: They’ve already played 600 matches and Season 10 hasn’t even been out for a month]

“Why am I in the same tier as NoName?”

Semin knew he wasn’t great at League.

But he prided himself on doing his absolute best in his position. Yet that effort was being equated with such a troll.

Semin’s eyes frosted over.

This was the reality of the sea tier – situations worse than this were common. For Semin, it was a familiar taste, a familiar scent.

Even in games that seem lost from the start, giving your best effort sometimes leads to unexpected victories.

He firmly planted his staff on the ground.

[Dont cry mumu: LeBlanc, I think the enemy mid and jungle are duo smurfs?]

The staff collapsed weakly.

* * *

HitmeonceIllhityoutwice hated the top side. Just when they thought they’d gotten a satisfactory support, now the top and mid were causing trouble.

It was ridiculous for an ADC, responsible for late-game carrying, to roam to help mid, but what was even more frustrating was how the ally rejected this help!

[Thecheetahiscrying: ADC shouldn’t go to a losing lane]

[PatientlyPersistant: Sorry, jungle is actually my main position… I’ll try to hold on]

[Dont cry mumu: 4:0]

[Dont cry mumu: If the enemy ganks first one more time, I’m throwing]

In a 3v2 skirmish, a disaster occurred where 3 allies died instead. Mid seemed to know this and was trying to placate them with emotes.

HitmeonceIllhityoutwice was at least glad someone knew who the best player on the team was. The late game is all about the ADC battle. Thinking this, they deliberately ignored the kill score.

[PerfectNature(Jared): 4/1/7]

[PerfectNumber(Kaina): 3/0/4]

But the monsters inhabiting the top side wouldn’t even allow the struggling minnow to struggle.

Kill in lane, kill with teleport dives, and now they were relentlessly attacking even on the path to the fortress.

[Thecheetahiscrying: Since we can’t win anyway, should we surrender now?]

[Thecheetahiscrying has started a surrender vote.]

The third box quickly fills up.

Semin, seeing the team cohesion already collapsed, knew who besides himself wasn’t agreeing to surrender – the despicable “NoName.”

Strangely, they seemed to be taking the game seriously this time with a decent 2/0/0 kill score, both kills happening in bottom lane.

But the troll’s true nature hadn’t disappeared, as they moved in bizarre patterns, sometimes inexplicably on the opposite side of the map from allies, mindlessly increasing their resource score without helping the team win.

Even Bronze and Silver players know how desperate the situation is. At just 15 minutes, the gold difference is probably around 5,000-7,000.

Semin, who rarely surrenders, votes in favor this time.

But by the end of the vote, unanimity wasn’t achieved.

[Thecheetahiscrying: Now we have to wait until 20 minutes.]

In five minutes, the game could end with just four votes in favor.

Nothing would change in five minutes, so everyone started moving half-heartedly.

Sensing this atmosphere, the first ping came from the allied jungler ‘NoName’.

[Rally here]

The second Guardian’s Nest.

Normally, top, jungle, and occasionally mid would gather for 3v3 skirmishes, but today, unusually, everyone from both teams was gathering.

A situation rarely seen outside high-elo solo ranked.

‘Is someone on their side giving orders too?’

At this rate, a 5v5 teamfight was inevitable.

Semin, lacking in mechanics, even purchased a stopwatch he rarely bought to prepare himself.

The ADC’s items were at 2 cores versus the enemy’s 1.5 cores.

But the enemy mid and jungle seemed to mock this, already approaching 3 cores.

‘The jungle level difference is 2 levels. We’ll definitely lose a smite fight.’

His head was becoming increasingly complicated.

But they had already arrived at the Guardian’s Nest.

The enemies were already taking cover and facing off. One more step forward and a barrage of skills would rain down, triggering combat.

NoName was hiding in the brush right next to Semin.

Even in this suffocating standoff, their eyes remained calm.

Realizing this side had no intention of moving first, the enemy began claiming the Guardian. If the second Guardian fell to the enemy, the game would become irreversible.

But trying to interfere meant facing enemies fully prepared to devour them.

In this tense situation, NoName’s Vargo leapt out first.

The enemy, as if they’d been waiting for just this, all five emerged from the Guardian’s Nest and bombarded Vargo.

“Dangerous!”

While Semin hesitated, the top laner mumu and ADC HitmeonceIllhityoutwice joined the fight. Skills rained down on the battlefield, making it difficult to distinguish what was what.

Semin thought coldly.

His role was to assassinate the enemy ADC. But where were they?

There were clearly five when they emerged from the nest, but only four were visible. Then?

“Hahahahahahaha”

Along with an enchanting female voice from the flank, hundreds of lead bullets rained down.

[You have been slain]

[You have been slain]

[You have been slain]

“Ah… this…”

The enemy ADC’s ultimate landed too perfectly.

It would have been difficult enough starting by cutting down the enemy ADC, but instead they began with half their health gone. It was easy for the well-fed Jared and Kaina to finish them off.

The one positive was that “Thecheetahiscrying,” who had chosen the grab champion Blitz, pulled the enemy ADC during their ultimate. This allowed NoName and HitmeonceIllhityoutwice to secure a kill.

[Enemy slain]

“Oh right, stopwatch!”

In the end, Semin failed to use his stopwatch to buy a turn in this teamfight too. Why did his vision narrow whenever a teamfight broke out…

There was no hope. Even with Jared and Kaina’s ultimates down, they had grown so much that their sustained damage from normal attacks was substantial.

Eventually, thanks to the enemy support sacrificing themselves as bait, HitmeonceIllhityoutwice couldn’t escape death either.

“Why did everyone take Miss Fortune’s ult so obviously!”

As soon as he was summoned to the respawn room, he vented his frustration. It was especially disappointing to die without even having a proper teamfight.

Vargo would soon join them here. Mumu would surely have a lot to say to him. But contrary to expectations, no news of defeat came.

Looking at the battle on the battlefield broadcast screen, no one could close their mouth.

“What is that.”

It started with mumu’s comment.

As soon as HitmeonceIllhityoutwice died, Vargo jumped over a wall and instantly killed the enemy top who had been poking with Miss Fortune from a distance. After stealing Miss Fortune’s soul, he quickly used skills, then emerged from her body and landed Vargo’s skills in sequence.

[Triple Kill]

When Kaina hastily tried to stop this with a stun, Vargo canceled the hard CC with Gangplank’s unique skill after stealing his soul again.

He detonated two powder kegs at maximum range, hitting both Jared and Kaina simultaneously.

But even after absorbing souls to recover health, he was still at half HP.

If Jared landed just one or two shurikens, Vargo would drop dead.

Through a shadow clone, Jared threw three shurikens from an angle where Vargo couldn’t possibly escape.

In a situation where he would be hit no matter which way he moved, Vargo escaped from Gangplank’s body with his ultimate again. Ignoring Jared, he charged at the isolated Kaina.

Meanwhile, he dodged another incoming stun with vertical movement.

[Quadra Kill]

Jared had no mobility skills left after using his shadow clone. But the reason he could still smile until the end.

“Oh no, my ultimate is up again?”

Jared’s ultimate ability that could deal guaranteed damage.

He didn’t even need to land shurikens; normal attacks would be enough to kill at that HP.

Having made his calculation, Jared left a mark of death on Vargo without hesitation.

But Kaina immediately used brush stealth. For a moment, normal attacks missed, and though Jared tried to throw shurikens, Kaina dodged them with short mobility skills. The turn had passed.

“No, at least Ignite!”

At the last moment, his spell cooldown miraculously finished, and he placed the flames of Ignite on Vargo.

[Penta Kill!]

But then, a level up.

And victory news.

With increased health, Vargo dramatically survived to become the final victor.

‘What am I watching right now?’

Semin couldn’t close his mouth at the scene that resembled a highlight reel.

“NoName is insane? But this was all possible because of my grab, you know.”

“Only the jungler was human.”

Others felt the same.

“Wait, what’s he doing?”

After the momentary battle that felt like an eternity, Vargo began staggering around.

Suddenly, the neutral monster Baron Duke, which spawns in the 20-minute range, entered his vision.

Blink blink

A strange staring contest between Baron Duke and Vargo.

In a voice no one could hear, NoName retorted grumpily.

“What are you looking at? Watch your eyes.”

The giant dragon’s breath engulfed Vargo.

[You have been executed.]

[Double Ace]